March 1922: Desperate times for Arsenal, Norris returns and another allegation overturned

By Tony Attwood

Arsenal entered March 1922 with the League table looking rather parlous. The one hopeful bit of news was that although Manchester United had of late climbed above Arsenal, they had played two games more and had a worse goal average, so a win in one of those two games in hand would at least make the table look a little less unnerving.

Pos

Club

P

W

D

L

F

A

GAv

Pts

16

Preston North End

29

10

7

12

33

48

0.688

27

17

Birmingham City

30

10

4

16

32

43

0.744

24

18

Oldham Athletic

30

8

8

14

23

39

0.590

24

19

Everton

28

7

9

12

37

39

0.949

23

20

Manchester United

31

6

10

15

33

54

0.611

22

21

Arsenal

29

8

5

16

28

42

0.667

21

22

Bradford City

28

6

7

15

32

57

0.561

19

Arsenal’s games in hand were caused by the postponement of matches due to Arsenal’s success in the FA Cup, having reached Round 4 (the equivalent of Round 6 today). Indeed this proved to be Leslie Knighton’s most successful season as Arsenal manager in the FA Cup. But Bradford also had one game in hand on Arsenal and no less than three on Manchester United.

But Arsenal could make no progress at the start of the month as March 1922 started with that 4th round game, Arsenal being drawn at home to Preston, who can be seen from the table above to be in 16th position in the league. But more encouraging was Preston’s away record up to this point: they had played 14 but not won a single away game, drawing just four and losing ten.

But on this day Preston managed to get another draw – the result being 1-1, which meant a return game at Deepdale – a ground that had recently been extended to accommodate growing crowds. White got Arsenal’s goal which made it five goals in the last three FA Cup games for him. The crowd was a healthy 37,5117.

We know that Sir Henry Norris was now back in England after his prolonged break in Italy and France, although there’s no record of whether he attended the Preston game or not. However he was back in Parliament for the debate on Monday 6 March, a debate on the Irish Free State (Agreement) Bill which formalised arrangement for handing over the central and southern counties of the island to the new country.

However although he attended, Sir Henry was not in Parliament for all the votes either on this day or on future days, suggesting he was still not well enough to be part of the late night life that MPs lived both then and now.

Back with the football, as always at this time the replay of drawn cup games happened within a few days of the original game, and sadly for Arsenal, Preston’s home form held and they won 2-1, although not until extra time had been played. Blyth got Arsenal’s goal in a team that was identical to that for the match at Highbury.

On 10 March Arsenal completed a transfer – that of Samson Haden who joined from Castleford. He didn’t come into the first team until 1923/4, when he took over the outside left position, and made it his for the rest of the season. In all he played 88 League and five FA Cup games.

The following day, 11 March, Arsenal had an absolute crunch game against relegation rivals Manchester United amid talk in the Islington Daily Gazette that Arsenal were in serious danger of being relegated. And by the end of the afternoon, that danger looked even greater as Manchester United beat Arsenal 1-0.

By having the FA Cup fourth round game, and a mid-week replay Arsenal had continued to be behind the clubs that had been knocked out of the Cup earlier, and the foot of the table now looked like this…

Pos

Club

P

W

D

L

F

A

G.Av

Pts

16

Blackburn Rovers

34

9

10

15

41

49

0.837

28

17

Everton

31

9

9

13

44

43

1.023

27

18

Oldham Athletic

32

9

8

15

24

40

0.600

26

19

Birmingham City

31

10

5

16

33

44

0.750

25

20

Manchester United

32

7

10

15

34

54

0.630

24

21

Bradford City

31

7

8

16

36

61

0.590

22

22

Arsenal

30

8

5

17

28

43

0.651

21

Arsenal still had the better goal average than Bradford City and Manchester United and one game in hand of the former and two over the latter. But these games had to be won, and Arsenal were not winning at the moment. After their solid spell from New Years Eve to 4 February Arsenal were unbeaten in seven (although three were FA Cup games). But now they had just had four defeats and one draw in five.

As for Man U, having lost seven games in a row in December and January they were unbeaten in the last six, winning three; they were on the up just as Arsenal were decidedly on the slide. What was needed therefore was a change of fortunes for both Arsenal and Man U. Bradford City – the other relegation contender – however had not won in nine, and if that form continued, again an upturn by Arsenal could certainly do no harm. That would leave Bradford C relegated for sure and Arsenal and Man U slogging out to avoid the other place.

11 March, aside from being a vital match for the club, was also Joe Shaw’s last league game as a player. He had played an astonishing 309 league games as a player and never scored a goal but in this, his final season he managed just six games.

However it was far from the end of the road for Joe as he went on to be Arsenal’s reserve team manager, before taking over the first team on the death of Herbert Chapman and leading the side to another League title. After that he happily accepted the move of George Allison to become manager, and he quietly moved back to managing the Combination side until the outbreak of war, and then, being too old for active service, continuing to work with the club during the conflict.

After the war he worked as a coach at Chelsea briefly before returning to Arsenal as assistant manager to Tom Whittaker, a job that he left finally in 1956 at the age of 72! He had worked for Arsenal for 49 years, one of its longest ever servants. He died in 1963 at the age of 80.

Next on the pitch, on 18 March Arsenal had an away game with Aston Villa. Villa were third in the league, seven points off the pace. Arsenal were bottom of the league, three points away from both Manchester United. and Bradford City

The result was hardly unexpected: Aston Villa 2 Arsenal 0. It was Arsenal’s fifth consecutive defeat in the league and the fourth consecutive league match without scoring. Stanley Earle recently signed as an amateur came in for his one and only game of the season at inside right.

Earle clearly did not make much of an impact at Arsenal in that he only played four games across three seasons – but it is notable that in those four games he scored three goals. But the next signing, although not a long term success for the team, really did make a difference. He was Andrew Young (generally known as Andy) who was born in Darlington on 17 September 1896.

Andy was a centre forward and half back and played originally for Blyth Spartans and then Aston Villa before moving to Arsenal. (Arsenal.com had him listed when they used to run a history section on the site as a full back, but this is incorrect).

Leslie Knighton paid £2,000 to bring Young to London from Aston Villa, a high price at the time, and further proof if it were ever needed that Knighton was not prohibited from buying any player over £1000 as he endlessly repeated in his autobiography.

The problem thus was not the lack of money made available by Sir Henry, but rather the fact that Knighton was a bit hit and miss at picking players from other clubs. For although Andy Young was a decent player, he had only played 26 games for Villa. He had scored 11 goals, but there was not that much to show that he could maintain that for a full season.

He survived the remainder of Knighton’s time at Arsenal and then two years under Chapman, but was ultimately not of the pedigree that Chapman wanted, any more than helping solve the problems of Knighton’s Arsenal, when his team were in dire straits.

Andy Young’s first game was on 22 March 1922: Arsenal 1 Liverpool 0. And although Young didn’t make it in the long term he was part of a particularly notable Arsenal performance; Arsenal’s first victory after five consecutive defeats in which the club had scored one and let in 11.

But to the wider public it was perhaps more notable because at the start of play Liverpool were four points clear at the top of the league with a game in hand and only two away defeats to their name all season.

Arsenal on the other hand had a home record that was worse than every other team in the 1st Division save Birmingham. As a result of the fixture, both clubs stayed in their respective positions, but now Arsenal had a spot of hope being only one point behind Manchester United and two behind Bradford City, and still with a game in hand.

Pos

Club

P

W

D

L

F

A

GAv

Pts

17

Everton

33

9

10

14

44

44

1.000

28

18

Birmingham City

33

11

6

16

35

45

0.778

28

19

Oldham Athletic

33

9

9

15

25

41

0.610

27

20

Bradford City

33

8

9

16

37

61

0.607

25

21

Manchester United

33

7

10

16

34

55

0.618

24

22

Arsenal

32

9

5

18

29

45

0.644

23

Looking forward, we can also see with hindsight that from this point on the team settled down as a regular XI with very few changes through to the end of the season. In particular the back six (keeper, full backs and half backs) played without change through to the end, and that indicates exactly where the trouble was. To be fair to Knighton he was not meddling with the team for the sake of it, but rather he was trying to manage a side that was afflicted by injury and flu.

Arsenal now had one more game before the end of the month: away to Aston Villa. In fact as we look at this we can see Arsenal had three games in succession against two of the top three: Liverpool and Villa. One had been lost and one had been won. It seemed too much to expect that there would be a second win, at home to Aston Villa.

But there was a ray of hope because Villa were a Jekyll and Hyde team when it came to home and away form. At home they were almost unbeatable – having won 14, drawn three and lost just one all season scoring 45 goals – eight more than any other team had notched up at home.

However away from home Villa were below average. In fact only six teams had a worse record than they did. Five wins, no draws and ten defeats was their record and their goalscoring away was 21 for and 27 against. Arsenal had won six, drawn four and lost five away. It was certainly worth going for.

And go for it Arsenal did, beating Villa 2-0, White and Boreham scoring. Arsenal had just won two in a row, against two of the top three teams!!! Here’s the table…

Pos

Club

P

W

D

L

F

A

G.Av

Pts

15

Preston North End

32

12

7

13

35

50

0.700

31

16

Huddersfield Town

32

11

8

13

37

37

1.000

30

17

Birmingham City

34

12

6

16

39

48

0.813

30

18

Everton

33

9

10

14

44

44

1.000

28

19

Oldham Athletic

34

9

10

15

25

41

0.610

28

20

Bradford City

34

8

10

16

37

61

0.607

26

21

Arsenal

33

10

5

18

31

45

0.689

25

22

Manchester United

34

7

10

17

34

58

0.586

24

Arsenal were now one point behind Bradford City with a game in hand. Here are the matches for the month.

Perhaps the most popular element in the Norris story is that of Arsenal’s promotion to the first division in 1919. The most complete review of this, which puts right the numerous misunderstandings of the events of that year appears on this site, and most importantly cites contemporary articles and reports, such as the minutes of the FA meeting where the promotion was confirmed, and the reports in local papers thereafter. It is to be found here in these sets of articles…